Why would I want to appear on Q&A following such an outrage against freethinking women?

While there has been significant attention given to his suspected terrorist activities, his conviction and jail term for threatening to kill an ASIO officer and his angry claims that Parliamentary Secretary Steve Ciobo was inciting Australian Muslims to travel to Syria to join ISIS, less has been said about his threats to Australian women.

I’ve always held the view that women who express opinions and are then subjected to violent threats and vilification should be defended, regardless of whatever political or ideological side of a fence they are on. I wondered, when some in the audience clapped in support of Mallah, if they were aware of his rape threats against Australian women or whether this didn’t matter enough to them to refrain from applauding?

And why don’t threats of sexual terrorism against women attract the same condemnation as other terrorist related threats? Mallah may have distanced himself from some of his earlier views, but his gang-rape tweet is only five months old.

Political scientist and commentator Dr Jennifer Oriel had been invited to be part of this week’s Q&A panel. She refused because of Mallah’s threats of sexual violence. She wrote this about her decision.

Last month, I was invited to appear as a panelist on the ABC’s political talk show Q&A.

Last night, Q&A featured a self-described “Muslim activist” who tweeted about gang-raping female columnists in January and pled guilty to threatening to kill an ASIO officer.

Why would I want to appear on Q&A following such an outrage against freethinking women and our nation’s protective forces?

The man who tweeted the idea of gang-raping female journalists also has expressed support for an Islamic caliphate.

I consider him such an inferior example of manhood that I would prefer not to stain the page with his name, but here it is for the record: Zaky Mallah.

After deploying the standard Islamist narrative on the ABC ­– i.e. Islamists are victims and anti-terrorism is unfair – Q&A’s audience applauded Mallah.

That tells us a lot about the state of Left-wing politics today.

In the 21st century, the hard Left goes soft on men who attack liberal democracy and promote violence against women as long as such men belong to a Left-anointed minority.

Q&A host Tony Jones upbraided Mallah, but only after he had blamed the government for jihadism.

Today’s limp corrective by the ABC falls well short of the explanation we need and the apology Australians deserve.

The terms of reference for the investigation into the ABC’s indulgence of Mallah must include why a man who threatened to kill an ASIO official was cast as a victim while offending our liberal democratic government’s anti-terrorism policy.

And why a man who promoted the gang-rape of female columnists was welcomed into the ABC studio and given the privilege of being a selected speaker from the audience.

What might have happened if either of the two female columnists Mallah proposed should be gang-raped in January were on the Q&A panel last night?

Unlike those female columnists, I was actually invited to be on a Q&A panel this month.

I have written extensively on Islamist terrorism and have been threatened for doing so.

The thought that a man such as Mallah might have been sitting a few feet away from me unrestrained is, quite frankly, horrifying.

There are serious questions which must be answered about the contemporary Left, and its continued indulgence of Islamist terrorism and misogyny.

We might begin by asking why the taxpayer-funded ABC indulged a man who promoted the idea of gang-raping female columnists.

Is it because the targeted columnists, Miranda Devine and Rita Panahi, are politically conservative and therefore considered deserving victims by Islamists and their Left-wing allies in the West?

Are we seeing a new form of politically correctness in Australia – politically correct misogyny?

Perhaps misogyny is permissible to the Left when the victim is a conservative woman.

As a female political commentator who leans conservative, my right to free speech and bodily security may not mean much to the ABC.

But I did not spend my formative years in the 20th century fighting for women’s rights only to surrender to an Islamist-Left alliance of misogyny in the 21st.

I expect a public apology from the ABC for its outrage against freethinking women, freedom of speech and the basic security of Australians.

Update: Mallah and some others have argued that he used the phrase ‘gang bang’ not ‘gang rape’. A man who calls two female journalists whores, and argues they need to be gang-banged on popular morning television, is not inviting them to join him in a mutually pleasurable experience. Note he has continued to tweet misogynist messages about and to them, in which he upholds his use of the term ‘whore’ to describe them.

‘What I’ve learned from Twitter is that it doesn’t matter what I do. It didn’t matter what I’ve done, what I’ve said, what I’ve written. My body of work doesn’t matter and my actual thoughts don’t matter. Not to those who have decided to hate me’

I’ve got a problem with Meghan Murphy and her Feminist Current blog. Every time I go there I want to re-print pretty much everything she writes. Here’s her latest. And yes, if you’re wondering, this piece resonated. A lot. Especially a week into the twitter response to my piece in Fairfax papers on the need for Australia to follow France’s lead in adopting the Nordic approach to prostitution last week (no, I’m not ‘whorephobic’ and no, I don’t want all sex workers to die).

I love the internet. I really do. And I can’t stand the luddites who romanticize the days where people talked. Face to face. Or called each other. The phone? Really? Please. Fuck the phone. The internet is magic.

I have found dozens — I’d even be so bold as to say hundreds — of brothers and sisters across the globe who I would have otherwise never found, if not for the ability to connect online.

So I have no interest in blaming technology or social media for people’s behaviour or arguing that Twitter is unequivocally “bad” (or “good,” for that matter). Things are never quite that simple. But what I will say is this: Most days I hate Twitter. And many days I think Twitter is a horrible place for feminism.

While I would never argue that feminists stay off of Twitter and do tend to believe it’s a necessary evil, of sorts, if you are in media/writing/journalism, I don’t think it’s a place for productive discourse or movement-building. I think it’s a place where intellectual laziness is encouraged, oversimplification is mandatory, posturing is de rigueur, and bullying is rewarded. I think it’s a place hateful people are drawn towards to gleefully spread their hate, mostly without repercussion. And more than half the time I feel as though I’m trapped in a shitty, American, movie-version of high school that looks more like a popularity contest than a movement to end oppression and violence against women. Read full article here.

US Rapper Tyler The Creator unleashes a torrent of hate on Sydney activist

By Talitha Stone

I’m a 23-year-old psychology student from Sydney and in June this year, I was subjected to a horrific torrent of abusive tweets from fans of touring American rapper Tyler Okonma. I challenged Okonma’s lyrics which encourage rape and violence against women by vocally supporting a petition on change.org that suggested he shouldn’t be playing all-age shows.

At Tyler’s concert in Sydney the next day, he told his fans he hoped my children got STDs, and “dedicated” songs to me that included lyrics like “punch a bitch in her mouth just for talkin’ shit”.

The abuse started almost instantly. First a drip, then a rush, then a flood. I felt physically sick. He had 1.7 million fans, and it felt like every single one of them had some violence stored up for me – a promise to assault me, the threat that they would rape me, an expression of hatred for my life and my freedom.

It was terrifying at first, and then I started to feel totally disconnected from myself. When one of them said he was going to mutilate my body, I couldn’t comprehend that he could be talking about me. The messages were coming at such a rate I couldn’t keep up.

Tyler Okonma, aka Tyler The Creator, is a member of powerful hip-hop collective Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All (usually abbreviated to OFWGKTA or Odd Future). It’s unclear how many members are part of the collective (somewhere between 25 and 60), but its best-known members are Okonma, Earl Sweatshirt, Syd tha Kyd, Hodgy Beats and last year’s Grammy-winning breakout artist, R&B singer Frank Ocean.

As a solo artist, Okonma has released three albums, his horrorcore-style lyrics taking in subjects such as violence, rape fantasies, murder and even necrophilia.

His lyrics include:

“F— Mary in her ass.. ha-ha.. yo, I tell her it’s my house, give her a tour, In my basement, and keep that bitch locked up in my storage, Rape her and record it, then edit it with more shit”

“You call this shit rape but I think that rape’s fun, I just got one request, stop breathin”

“I wanna tie her body up and throw her in my basement, Keep her there, so nobody can wonder where her face went, (Tyler, what you doin’?) Shut the f— up, You gon’ f—in’ love me bitch, Shit, I don’t give a f—, your family lookin’ for you, wish ‘em good luck, Bitch, you tried to play me like a dummy, Now you stuck up in my motherf—in’ basement all bloody, And I’m f—in’ your dead body, your coochie all cummy, Lookin’ in your dead eyes, what the f— you want from me?”

I received threats from Okonma’s fans constantly for two weeks and I still get the odd tweet of abuse today. In a tone eerily similar to Okonma’s lyrics they sent messages like: “shut the f— up cuz if I see you on the streets I’m gonna snatch u in a alley and force this d— in you,” “how’s that for promoting rape? I’m f—ing DOING it! So watch ur back, but ur families will be first” and “you know you secretly want @f—tyler to forcibly penetrate your anal cavity”.

On the flipside I received an abundance of support from friends and family. People who read about my experience in The Sydney Morning Herald and other media outlets couldn’t believe that this kind of behaviour was being tolerated in Australia.

When I was attacked I did all the things you’re meant to do: I reported individual tweets to Twitter (after diligently filling out their long-winded forms) and was staggered to be told that tweets like this did not breach their guidelines: “f—ing waste of flesh worthless female. its girls like u who make guys want to #rape a helpless pussy like u”.

I blocked the people abusing me and then I reported it to the police, who said there was nothing they could do, other than work with Twitter. Their advice was to delete my account, and not provoke people – letting the abusers win.

After thousands of threats of rape, murder and experiences like mine, Twitter has recently announced that they’ll be rolling out a report abuse button on all platforms. That’s a great first step, but it’s kidding itself if it thinks this will solve the problems faced by myself and millions of other women right around the world. It’s also underestimating the consequences of creating a powerful global platform that is unsafe for women to share their opinions on.

Twitter’s rules and processes are badly broken. Other tweets, to other users, that Twitter has said are within their guidelines include: “I will rape you when I get the chance” and “Ur a f—ing faggot, go kill urself.” If you’re a woman who has used Twitter to talk about things that matter to you, chances are you’ve had a similar experience. Chances are, even if you report each and every abusive, threatening tweet, many of them will be OK’d by Twitter and the abuse will continue.

Twitter has significant power, and is playing an important role in world affairs – but it’s facing a critical moment. The people who run Twitter, like Del Harvey, Twitter’s head of trust and safety, need to realise that the platform must enable people to talk about the things that matter to them without facing a torrent of threats and abuse.

I’ve joined a global petition to get Twitter to stop rape abuse on its platform. The campaign was inspired by Caroline Criado-Perez, a British feminist who used a petition on change.org to fight to keep a woman on banknotes in Britain. Immediately after she won that campaign, she faced the horrendous backlash of violence and threats that come to so many women who raise their heads online. The momentum from her campaign for reform is now beginning to put pressure on Twitter, and I hope an international outcry will get them to act with a comprehensive zero-tolerance policy for abuse.

Public discourse shouldn’t be something anyone should have to “learn to deal with”. Twitter can, and must, play an active role in being a positive voice among the multitude of violent tweets some of its users dish out. Twitter’s actions here can have life-saving consequences – but it needs to act, swiftly and effectively.

We are now asking Twitter Australia to meet Talitha. Support this call by tweeting at @TwitterAu and asking them to #meettalitha, who started the petition at www.change.org/twitterabuse

The price you pay for activism – but it won’t stop us

[Warning: threatening, sexually violent language]

Caitlin Roper, my fellow Collective Shout activist in the West, has put together this montage of some of the abusive and threatening tweets we receive on a regular basis. We want people to know just how bad this is. We don’t believe women who speak out on issues should be threatened like this. Police have taken no action.

Twitter: Add a Report Abuse Button to tweets

My friend and fellow Collective Shout activist Talitha Stone has launched this petition calling on Twitter to add a report abuse button to tweets. Please support this brave and gutsy young woman.

In June this year, I was subjected to an horrific torrent of abusive tweets from fans of rapper Tyler Okonma on twitter when I challenged his lyrics which encourage rape and violence towards women. The abuse was unbelievable. It included direct threats of rape, and at one point, twitter users tried to publish my address. Worse, I was told by police there was no way to stop it other than deleting my account: letting the abusers win.

Nothing has changed. Recently, Caroline Criado-Perez, who campaigned to keep women on banknotes in the United Kingdom, has been targeted repeatedly, with rape threats over three days because of her campaign. We have to be able to change this – and urgently.

Women should be able to speak out without facing threats of rape and assault.

I’m asking for your help to get Twitter to urgently add a Report Abuse Button to tweets on all platforms. It won’t fix everything – but it’s a good start. We know they’re listening – but they need to move quickly – this is out of control.

At Tyler’s concert, he told his fans he hoped my children got STDs, and “dedicated” songs to me that included lyrics like “punch a bitch in her mouth just for talkin’ shit” – the people who responded to his call to arms are still free to do to everyone else on twitter what they did to me.

It’s time Twitter took a zero tolerance policy on abuse, and learns to tell the difference between abuse and defence. Women standing up to abuse should not fear having their accounts cancelled because Twitter fail to see the issue at hand. This behaviour would have people banned from other public spaces – it’s barely acknowledged as being wrong on twitter.

Please sign my petition to ask Twitter to urgently add a Report Abuse Button to tweets on all platforms.

Statement from twitter:

We hear you

Monday, July 29, 2013

At Twitter, we work every day to create products that can reach every person on the planet. To do that, we must take a wide range of use cases into consideration when designing interfaces or developing user tools. We want Twitter to work whether you are trying to follow your favourite musician, talk to others about shared interests, or raise the visibility of a human rights issue.

We also have to think about scale and volume. We see an incredible amount of activity passing through our systems – there are more than 400 million Tweets sent every day worldwide. Those Tweets not only appear on our site and in our apps, but are also embedded into the fabric of traditional and digital media.

The vast majority of these use cases are positive. That said, we are not blind to the reality that there will always be people using Twitter in ways that are abusive and may harm others.

While manually reviewing every Tweet is not possible due to Twitter’s global reach and level of activity, we use both automated and manual systems to evaluate reports of users potentially violating our Twitter Rules. These rules explicitly bar direct, specific threats of violence against others and use of our service for unlawful purposes, for which users may be suspended when reported.

To the extent that our system is based around the filing of reports with our Trust & Safety team, we strive to make it easier and more practical to file them. Three weeks ago, we rolled out the ability to file reports from an individual Tweet on our iPhone app and the mobile version of our site, and we plan to bring this functionality to Android and desktop web users.

We are constantly talking with our users, advocacy groups, and government officials to see how we can improve Twitter, and will continue to do so. Such feedback has always played an important role in the development of our service. We hope the public understands the balances we’re trying to strike as we continue to work to make our systems and processes better.

US RAP artist Tyler the Creator sings songs advocating rape and extreme violence against women. His lyrics include themes of murder, genital mutilation, stuffing women into car boots, trapping them in his basement, raping their corpses and burying their bodies. In Tyler’s world, women are sluts, bitches and ‘‘hos’’ who invite criminal acts. They have it coming. It’s what they deserve. And we just welcomed him to Australia. Many are calling on Immigration Minister Brendan O’Connor to explain why he has given a platform to an artist who raps about rape as fun. The rapper’s concerts begin in Perth today. He’ll be in Melbourne on Friday. His Brisbane gig at Eatons Hill Hotel is listed as for ‘‘all ages’’. Tyler the Creator gets a free pass to promote male entitlement to do anything to women. Some of his lyrics include:

‘‘ You call this sh– rape but I think that rape’s fun, I just got one request, stop breathin’’

‘‘ F– Mary . . . keep that bitch locked up in my storage, rape her and record it’’ ‘‘ Chop her up in the back of a Wrangler’’ ‘‘ I wanna tie her body up and throw her in my basement, keep her there, so nobody can wonder where her face went’’

There’s lots more, but it’s unpublishable.

In Australia, violence against women costs the taxpayer an estimated $13.6 billion. The Australian Government says it is strongly committed to reducing domestic violence and sexual assault, and has provided funding of $75.7 million over four years via the Women’s Safety Agenda.

The Victorian Government’s action plan to address violence against women allocates $90m to the cause this year.

If we are serious about addressing violence against women, should a visa be granted to a man who makes a living treating it as entertainment? What’s the point of programs if we tolerate those who fuel it?

In a plea to Immigration Minister Brendan O’Connor and Foreign Affairs Minister Bob Carr, Perth woman Caitlin Roper wrote: ‘‘As a survivor of sexual violence, I can honestly say the impact is devastating, not only for the woman, but our families and those who love us. I believe we need to have zero tolerance for those that encourage violent and dehumanising acts on women.

‘‘I realise of course that asking you to revoke Tyler the Creator’s visa is a huge ask. However, I would ask you to consider the message you could send to Australians about the serious nature of violence against women and the Government’s lack of tolerance for hate speech against our female citizens.’’

The rapper’s hate speech include gays. Tyler the Creator’s rap group, Odd Future, was banned from the NZ Big Day Out line-up after complaints about his lyrics; in that case, homophobic slurs. Tyler responds to women (including this writer) who criticise his misogynistic lyrics, with sexually intimidating comments on social media.

Australian Immigration Fact Sheet 78 on Controversial Visa Applicants refers to ‘‘people whose presence in Australia may, because of their activities, reputation, known record or the cause they represent and propagate, vilify or incite discord in the Australian community or a segment of that community, or represent a danger to the Australian community or a segment of that community’’.

Shouldn’t vilifying women and contributing to an environment that puts them in danger qualify for a reconsideration of his visa? Many of those attending his concerts will be boys forming their opinions about women. They will get a message that abusing women is cool. Inciting criminal acts does not deserve the protection of free speech.

When musicians Tegan & Sara criticised his lyrics he offered them his erect penis. They had written:

‘‘When will misogynistic and homophobic ranting and raving result in meaningful repercussions in the entertainment industry? When will they be treated with the same seriousness as racist and anti-Semitic offences?’’

Is there one political leader in this country who will declare Tyler the Creator’s brand of hatred unwelcome?

When a society doesn’t take violence against women seriously, and even considers it a form of entertainment, it has devastating results for women and girls.

The human rights violations Tyler raps about happen to real women. He is contributing to a culture that enables and excuses it. In a country that claims to care about the treatment of women, why would we give him a platform?

Rapper promotes rape and violence against women. We don’t want him here.

*TRIGGER WARNING* Graphic descriptions of rape and violence against women

Collective Shout is urgently calling on the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, Hon. Brendan O’Connor, to revoke the visa granted to Tyler the Creator.

Rapper ‘Tyler the Creator’ is due to arrive in Australia for a series of concerts beginning on Tuesday June 4. Tyler is reknown for songs advocating rape and extreme violence against women, including murder, genital mutilation, stuffing them into car boots, trapping them in his basement, raping their corpses and burying their bodies.

Here are some of his lyrics:

“Raquel treat me like my father like a f*ckin’ stranger, She still don’t know I made Sarah to strangle her, Not put her in danger and chop her up in the back of a Wrangler, All because she said no to homecomin’”

“F*ck Mary in her ass.. ha-ha.. yo, I tell her it’s my house, give her a tour, In my basement, and keep that bitch locked up in my storage, Rape her and record it, then edit it with more sh*t”

“You already know you’re dead, Ironic cause your lipstick is red, of course, I stuff you in the trunk”

“You call this sh*t rape but I think that rape’s fun, I just got one request, stop breathin”

“I wanna tie her body up and throw her in my basement, Keep her there, so nobody can wonder where her face went, (Tyler, what you doin’?) Shut the f*ck up, You gon’ f*ckin’ love me bitch, Sh*t, I don’t give a f*ck, your family lookin’ for you, wish ‘em good luck, Bitch, you tried to play me like a dummy, Now you stuck up in my motherf*ckin’ basement all bloody, And I’m f*ckin’ your dead body, your coochie all cummy, Lookin’ in your dead eyes, what the f*ck you want from me?”

“You’ll be down in earth quicker if you diss me tonight, I just wanna drag your lifeless body to the forest, And fornicate with it but that’s because I’m in love with you…c*nt”

Tyler responds to women who criticise his misogynistic yrics.

And I got one too:

Controversial Visa Applicants

Australian Immigration Fact Sheet 78 on Controversial Visa Applicants refers to “people whose presence in Australia may, because of their activities, reputation, known record or the cause they represent and propagate, vilify or incite discord in the Australian community or a segment of that community, or represent a danger to the Australian community or a segment of that community.”

Tyler the Creator promotes hate speech against women, perpetuating male entitlement to use women’s bodies, to regard women as “bitches”, “sluts” and “hoes” for their sexual use. Tyler the Creator’s glorification of rape and violence against women could be considered inciting his fans to commit violent crimes against them.

We are callling on the Minister to consider the best interests of Australia, including the safety of our female citizens.We ask him to act urgently to revoke Tyler the Creator’s Visa so that he cannot promote his misogynistic attitudes here.

Your taxes at work: harassment and intimidation treated with indifference – why I went public

There’s a feature piece in The Australian today by Chris Kenny. ‘The Unkindness of Strangers’, subtitled: ‘When an ugly post goes viral via social media, victims find there is very little they can do about it.’

Sexism, pornography, social media, bureaucratic accountability and the contest of ideas; this story touches on these volatile topics and reveals the challenges of the digital age, and its propensity for hypocrisy and injustice. The way women are treated in public debate has become hotly contested ground in recent years …

It took me awhile to summon the strength to agree to go public on this story. Months of unrelenting abuse last year caused me to go under the radar for a while. Now, getting it (well, one aspect of it) out there, brings feelings of exposure and vulnerability. But I felt that what happened had to be brought to light. For eight months I was shunted, fobbed off, given the flick and ignored by the Australian Public Service Commission and Australian Tax Office regarding a complaint about a public servant who tweeted requesting naked images of me. It had started to feel like they were running some kind of protection racket.

It was over dinner with public servant friends that I learned about APS codes of conduct. It seemed tax department officer Darryl Adams had pretty much breached them all. My friends encouraged me to make a formal complaint (reprinted below) and told me how to go about it.

As I told Kenny: “It takes a lot of time and energy, especially emotional energy. There was a principle I thought was important: that people shouldn’t be harassed and be intimidated by officers of the crown who we pay to do their job. He is a servant of the people and was publicly requesting lewd material of one of those people.” (Actually I used the words ‘masturbatory material’ not ‘lewd’ but the Oz lawyers didn’t love that so much so it got changed).

It was this mind numbing, soul deadening, reply that sealed it for me. I knew then I had to take it higher if I was going to have any chance of a meaningful response.

Thank you for your email of 2 February 2013 in relation to your complaint made to the Australian Public Service Commission (APSC) regarding the conduct of an ATO employee.

I advise that the APSC was advised of the outcome of our investigation of your complaint in September 2012. As the recipient of the original complaint the ATO understood that the APSC would, in accordance with usual procedure, advise you of the outcome of your complaint. I regret that this has obviously not occurred.

I advise that the ATO dealt with your complaint in accordance with ATO policy and procedure and the matter has now been finalised. Due to constraints imposed by the Privacy Act 1999 I am unable to provide you with any further information regarding the outcome.

Thank you for bringing this matter to our attention.

Anne

Anne Lowe
Director People Team | Health & People Management | ATO PeopleATO| Working for all Australians

It wasn’t until the intervention of the Assistant Treasurer David Bradbury (whose portfolio includes the ATO) that there was any real interest in my case. I was lucky – unlike most women in this situation, I had a senior contact in Government. He helped put me in touch with a senior staffer in Bradbury’s office.

After briefing the Minister, the staffer wrote a strongly worded email to the Taxation Commissioner on the Minister’s behalf, copied in to the Special Minister of State, requesting he look into the case. The email was sent at 3.20pm. At precisely 3.48pm I received a voice message from the ‘Head of People Management’ of the Australian Tax Officer, citing ‘urgent investigation’, ‘receiving full briefing’, ‘will call you again this afternoon’. He was helpful, acknowledging my complaint had been badly handled, and later wrote advising it had been upheld (though I couldn’t be told what disciplinary action had been taken). This was a year after the tweet I had complained about.

I got more action from Bradbury’s office in an hour than I got from the APS and ATO since last June and am very grateful for the Minister’s involvement. I felt like it was the first time my harassment was taken seriously. I feel sorry for those without contacts though. Do they just disappear and say nothing – like those departments seemed to expect me to do? This was the main reason I decided to talk to Kenny.

Here’s my letter of complaint to Mr Stephen Sedgwick, the Australian Public Service Commissioner.

Sexual harassment is sexual harassment regardless of who it happens to

When will QUT take action against James Silverwood and Dominic Terry?

A petition was recently launched to pressure Facebook to remove a page called ’12 year old slut memes.’

The page, used to bully, humiliate, expose and shame young girls had attracted over 200,000 ‘likers.’

Thousands of complaints have been submitted to Facebook via the page’s reporting system and a petition directed to Facebook. Facebook has refused to remove the page, defending it on the grounds of free speech and tagging it as ‘controversial humor.’

It has now emerged that the creators of the page are two 19 year old QUT students from Brisbane. James Silverwood and Dominic Terry are immensely proud of their creation and have continued to defend it.

Due to the amount of legal strife that we have been running into about the group, and the fact that we are just two 19 year old guys that obviously can’t afford a law suit to their name, we have regrettably decided to close the page, permanently.

I know we have lots of devoted fans that come on here to see the countless arguments and dumb sluts trying to justify themselves, sometimes it’s just too personally detrimental to have something like this group and it has to die.

We’ll miss you guys. Thanks for everything guys.

Dom & James.

Nahhhhhh, just gammin’.
As long as there are sluts, we will put them in their place. Keep the submissions coming guys.
We’re not going anywhere. x

How Dominic Terry and James Silverwood bully young girls in front of over 200,000 people. We’ve removed the young girl’s image

One wonders what QUT thinks of their students bullying, harassing and shaming little girls to ‘put them in their place.’ QUT has said they are investigating the issue. Since this has come to light James Silverwood’s personal Facebook page has disappeared and references to QUT have been removed from Dominic Terry’s page. A number of photographs have been removed from the offending page although the “12 year old slut memes” Facebook page is still there.

Of course, this is not enough. The creators of the page – 19 year old men – need to be held accountable and the page removed. It is never acceptable to target, bully, harass and shame little girls.

QUT responds with Facebook statement

“QUT does not condone exploitative, discriminatory or sexist behaviour. Our policies show clearly that we are committed to the strongest principles of equity and it is disappointing that the university has been associated with such content.

I am sure you would appreciate that QUT has no jurisdiction over the behaviour of its student population independently of their relationship with us, but the university has convenyed its views on these activities to the students.

We are unable to comment further on this situation in social media.”

The 12 Year old Slut Meme and Facebook’s misogyny problem

Hey, Facebook:

One in three women on the planet will be raped or beaten in her lifetime

Millions of girls and women are murdered in “domestic violence” situations

Millions are sold, scarred, tortured, sexually abused and more

For being born female on a planet that tolerates unconscionable levels of violence against half of the humans that live on it.

So? What does this have to do with Facebook? Turns out a whole lot, because there is no being neutral in this situation. You either help change it or you actively tolerate it and encourage the perpetrators of violence by doing so.

Earlier this week I wrote about how the use of photography (especially without the subject’s consent) intensifies harassment, abuse and violence against women. Quicker than I could type “Feministe” this Change.org petition appeared in my inbox: “Please sign to remove 12 Year Old Slut Memes from Facebook.” One of the offending page’s profile photos is of a pink-lipped and pouty child (she looks a lot younger than 12) wearing a tank top that reads “I love COCK.” Now, anyone can create a page in Facebook (published at Facebook’s discretion) and this page doesn’t openly advocate violence against 12-year-old sluts. It is, however, the virtual equivalent of street harassment and, as such, demonstrates the way the photography serves to exponentially magnify the effects of subtle and real violence along a broad spectrum. Read entire article here.

Sign the petition calling on Facebook to remove ’12 year old slut memes’

[UPDATE]

Morons or crusaders? The two Brisbane university students behind a controversial Facebook account that was shut down yesterday have vowed to return to “uncover other problems in society”.

Created under the names of Queensland University of Technology students James Silverwood and Dom Terry, the page published photos of young girls posing in pictures that had been already posted on the social media site on their own pages.

These pictures were then branded with lewd tags and posted on the crudely named “12-year-old sluts” page.

The Facebook page mentioned in an ABC 7.30 report.

Australian Communications and Media Authority response

One of our supporters made a complaint to the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) and received this response:

The internet content specified in your complaint has been found to be hosted outside Australia. The ACMA is therefore required to take action in accordance with Schedule 5 to the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 (the BSA).

Further, following investigation of your complaint, the ACMA:

· Found that the content was potential prohibited content, in accordance with the definitions under clause 21 to Schedule 7 of the BSA.

Despite media reports suggesting that Facebook had banned the page, this is not the case. It is clear that it was the two men who opted to close the page, not Facebook. Prior to closing the page the two men had posted a message stating their intention to close it along with a pathetic attempt at justifying their behaviour. We believe it was the increased media attention, reports of an investigation from the Australian Federal Police, their University and parents being notified of their behaviour that ultimately caused the two men to close the page.

Since this page was closed, several other identical pages have been created by ‘anonymous’ users. Facebook refuses to take these pages down, instead tagging them with [Controversial Humor]. According to Facebook, a page set up to facilitate bullying and harassment of little girls does not violate its policy:

Thanks for your recent report of a potential violation on Facebook. After reviewing your report, we were not able to confirm that the specific page you reported violates Facebook’s Statement of Rights and Responsibilities.

We will continue putting pressure on Facebook to enforce its terms of use.

‘The foremost authority in Australia cyber safety lays it on the line and challenges parents to find their digital spine.’ – Dr Michael Carr-Gregg

Whether it is problems with friends, worrying about how you look or just feeling a bit down in the dumps – these books are written especially for you – to help you in your journey. Purchase all four together and save $18.50 on postage! Author: Sharon Witt

In this DVD, Melinda takes us on a visual tour of popular culture. “Melinda’s presentation leaves audiences reeling. She delivers her message with a clarity and commonsense without peer.” – Steve Biddulph, author, Raising Boys, Raising Girls

In this easy-to-read updated book, Steve Biddulph shares powerful stories and give practical advice about every aspect of boyhood.

Men of Honour -written by Glen Gerreyn- encourages and inspires young men to take up the challenge to be honourable. Whether at school, in sport, at work or in relationships, we must develp our character to achieve success and experience the thrills life has on offer.

Purchase the Ruby Who? DVD and book together for only $35 saving 10% off the individual price.

“Getting Real contains a treasure trove of information and should be mandatory reading for all workers with young people in health, education and welfare” – Dr Michael Carr-Gregg, Adolescent Psychologist

Do you read women’s lifestyle magazines? Have you thought about how magazines might affect you when you read them? Faking It reflects the body of academic research on magazines, mass media, and the sexual objectification of women.

Ruby Who? is the sweet and innocent story of a little girl’s adventure in re-discovering her identity. Ruby wishes for so many things and dreams of being like others. Will she end up forgetting how to just be herself?

Ruby Who? is the sweet and innocent story of a little girl’s adventure in re-discovering her identity. Ruby wishes for so many things and dreams of being like others. Will she end up forgetting how to just be herself?

Defiant Birth challenges widespread medical, and often social aversion to less than perfect pregnancies or genetically different babies. It also features women with disabilities who were discouraged from becoming pregnant at all.